


All other concerns

by Melacka



Category: The Blacklist (TV)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Recovery, Season/Series 05, Uneasy Allies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 15:03:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16221551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melacka/pseuds/Melacka
Summary: “Donald! What a pleasant surprise!”Reddington actually managed to sound pleased to see him, a fact which never failed to unnerve Ressler.Or, Ressler and Reddington have a moment while Liz is in a coma.





	All other concerns

Ressler stood at the entrance of the clinic where Liz was being kept while they all waited for news of her recovery. He really hated visiting this place, there was such a strange mix of hope and despair filling the building and everyone who came there. It was a place of miraculous recovery and irreversible damage. He hated the thought of Liz being here, but the alternative was something he could barely bring himself to contemplate. He dreaded the sight of Liz in that room, so seemingly lifeless. The sound of the machines tracking her every heartbeat and assisted breath were a poor substitute for the real sounds of her life. Her gentle teasing, joyful laugh, anguished tears or frustrated anger. He missed it all. He missed _her_.

Sighing again, he dug his hands into his pockets and moved towards the entrance. The doctors had suggested that it might be helpful to Liz’s recovery if the people close to her visited as often as possible. Ressler couldn’t help but think that this was more a case of wishful thinking or clutching at straws rather than anything based on medical evidence, but he was still willing to try. He and the other members of the task force took it in turns to visit her and reminisce about their time together. Aram and Samar tended to go together and so were able to carry out an actual conversation. More often than not, Ressler spent an awkward thirty minutes telling her about the latest case he’d been working on. Sometimes he would be overcome with nostalgia and would talk about his childhood or his early days with the bureau. Occasionally, he’d find himself sharing the room with Reddington, either alone or with Agnes.

As he approached Liz’s room, Ressler saw the unmistakable shape of Dembe standing guard at the door. Stifling a sigh, he exchanged a quick nod of greeting with the bodyguard and pushed the door open.

“Donald! What a pleasant surprise!”

Reddington actually managed to sound pleased to see him, a fact which never failed to unnerve Ressler.

“Reddington,” he said stiffly.

“Take a seat, Agent Ressler, and tell us about your latest adventures.”

“Us?” Ressler replied uncertainly.

“Yes, Elizabeth, Agnes and I,” Reddington replied cheerfully as Agnes poked her head around the chair behind him. “Agnes has just been exploring the room a little, but I do believe that she would appreciate a story.”

Red picked her up with all the ease of long practice and sat her down in his lap. She stared straight at him and Ressler found himself caught by the disconcerting similarity of her gaze to her mother’s. He felt his mouth drop open a little as Agnes maintained eye contact, almost aggressively, and then, just as suddenly, an enormous smile broke across her face and she giggled. Ressler couldn’t help it, he grinned back at her. Agnes clapped her hands, delighted.

“Ah, she got you, Donald,” Red said quietly. “Young Agnes here likes to win smiles off people, and she has particular tenacity when she senses that someone doesn’t _want_ to smile at her. She has a 100% success rate as far as I can tell. It’s really quite remarkable.”

He tousled her hair fondly and pressed a kiss to her temple. Ressler had grown accustomed to these displays of affection, reserved almost exclusively for Agnes now that Liz was in no position to receive them. He still felt a bit uncomfortable being a witness to them, though. He could never forget how dangerous Reddington was, even knowing he would never knowingly harm the little girl.

“How’s she doing?” he asked after a moment, gesturing towards the still figure on the bed.

“The doctors seem to think that she is making progress, but they’re no closer to knowing when she will wake,” Red said calmly. “They have encouraged familiar voices, as I’m sure you know. I bring Agnes here whenever I can. If anything could tempt her back—”

His voice broke off abruptly and Ressler looked at him, astonished by the emotion in his voice. Red blinked and cleared his throat, turning his attention to the child in his lap.

“Your mother loves you very much, Agnes. You must never forget that.”

Agnes looked at him seriously and traced her hand across his face, curious. Ressler looked away, feeling like an intruder all of a sudden.

“Dembe!” Red called out after a moment and the bodyguard entered the room silently. “Please take Agnes for a walk outside, it’s such a lovely day.”

Dembe nodded and held his arms out for the little girl. Agnes squealed with delight and all three men smiled.

“It’s hard for her, Donald,” Red said musingly as Dembe disappeared through the door. “She doesn’t really understand why her mother won’t just wake up.”

Ressler scoffed and shook his head. “I _do_ understand why but it doesn’t make it easier. Sometimes I think—” He hesitated a moment and then pushed on, “Sometimes I think that understanding things actually makes it harder to deal with.”

Red considered him in silence for a moment before he turned his attention back to Elizabeth.

“Very true. Understanding doesn’t necessarily provide closure. It certainly can’t negate the catastrophic injuries that human beings so willingly inflict on each other.”

“Coming from such a noted pacifist, that means a lot,” Ressler said dryly.

Red only laughed and shook his head.

“I have never claimed to be anything other than what I am, Agent Ressler. I am a criminal and a violent one at that. No, I am speaking of injuries inflicted on the innocent.” He turned his face back to the bed and stroked his hand gently across Liz’s forehead. “Those that should never have been involved.”

“Liz would hardly consider herself an innocent bystander, Reddington.”

“No,” he agreed. “She wouldn’t. She always does insist on getting herself involved. My brave, foolish, headstrong Lizzy.”

“Speaking of getting involved, you’ve been making yourself scarce lately.”

“I have been busy,” Red said, still staring avidly at Liz. “Criminal empires don’t build themselves, you know.”

“Yeah, I get that, but are you really too busy to come up with a name or two? You haven’t given us a Blacklister in over a month.”

Red sighed and let his eyes drift back towards Ressler.

“I fear that my pleasure in the hunt has been somewhat diminished of late.”

“I’ve noticed,” Ressler said dryly. “But this work is important, Reddington.”

“You don’t need to tell _me_ that, Donald.”

“It’s important to Liz.”

Ressler watched the twitch in Reddington’s face with interest. He knew that there were few things that could break the man’s iron-clad control, and Liz was always one of them.

“When Liz wakes up, she’ll want to know that we haven’t abandoned the task force. She’ll want to get back to work—”

“We don’t know what Elizabeth will want once she wakes, let alone when she finds out about Tom,” Red said forcefully. “She will have a long recovery ahead of her, regardless, and you may find that the very last thing she cares about is the Blacklist.”

Ressler studied him in silence for a moment and then said, “Are you worried that she won’t care about the Blacklist? Or that she won’t care about _you_?”

Red chuckled quietly and said, “Careful, Donald, you almost dazzle me with your intricate wordplay.”

“Stands to reason,” Ressler replied with a broad grin.

“My only concern at present is that Elizabeth is given the best chance of recovery and Agnes is provided for while her mother is incapacitated. All other concerns are secondary.”

“ _All_ other concerns?”

“Yes, _all_ other concerns. Unfortunately, there is not much that I can do for Elizabeth in this condition except care for her daughter. When she wakes up, we will, of course, re-evaluate the situation.”

“And restart the Blacklist?”

“Yes. We may find time for a few Blacklisters in the meantime but, as I say, it is not my main concern at present.”

“I still say that Liz will need something to distract her when she wakes up. You know Liz, she’ll need something that she can devote herself to. Something that takes her mind off her injuries.”

“We don’t even know the extent of her injuries, yet. We don’t know what condition she will be in when she wakes up,” Red said reasonably. “But I still fear that she will feel the loss of Tom more forcefully than she will feel the harm done to her.”

“What do you mean?”

“She is far too apt to forgive where all forgiveness should be denied. To forget what should always be remembered.”

“It’s not just Tom who enjoyed that benefit, Reddington. You’ve certainly had your share of leeway from Liz.” Ressler got up as he spoke and paced over to the window. “We all have.”

“True.”

“You can’t be upset that she does it for him and take full advantage when it’s for you.”

“I don’t want her to do it for me, either.”

Ressler caught sight of Dembe chasing after Agnes in the distance.

“Tom Keen never deserved her.”

“No, he didn’t,” Red agreed solemnly. “And she does not deserve what has happened to her. But where she loves, Donald, she does not let it go. She does not turn away. Even when that love hurts her.”

Ressler could think of nothing to say to this, and could scarcely trust himself to speak, even if he could find the words.

“But I suppose that’s what love does,” Red mused. “It renders you powerless. A willing slave. A glutton for punishment.”

“Are we still talking about Liz?” Ressler said, turning from the window at last.

Reddington considered him in silence for a long, tense moment and then said, very carefully, “Who else would we be talking about?”

Ressler turned away again.

“Who, indeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read/leave kudos/comment. It really makes my day!


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